For a few years now, excess emission of gamma-rays in the direction of the Galactic Center has puzzled scientists. In the paper we discuss today, the authors re-analyze data from the Fermi telescope to get new insights into the origin of this excess emission. They make the case for the signal being described by dark matter particles annihilating in the center of our Galaxy.

In today’s astrobite, we discuss the puzzling results from the AMS-02 experiment, which has detected an excess of positrons in cosmic rays with respect to what we expect from known physical sources. Where are those positrons coming from?

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment has found signatures in its data consistent with a dark matter Weakly Interacting Massive Particle. While not confident enough to declare a dark matter discovery, they estimate that there is only a 0.2% chance that these signatures are caused by random chance.

The quest for identifying the dark matter particle is well underway. Today, we discuss the work of the ANTARES collaboration, which is using a neutrino telescope to search for signals of dark matter annihilation in the Sun.

In previous astrobites posts, we’ve talked about using microlensing to find planets and to detect dark matter in other galaxies. However, one of the earliest applications of microlensing was a bit closer to home: the detection of compact objects in the dark matter halo of our own galaxy. We know there is a lot more mass in galaxies, including our own, than what we can see. Dark matter comprises more than 80% of the matter in our Universe, but what is it really comprised of?